Computing-machine.



A. G. voss. COMPUTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3, 1912. v

Paptehted Mar.17,1914.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1 g wsg A. G. V0SS-. COMPUTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT; 3, 1912.

Patented M ar.17,1914.

3 SHEETS*SHBET 2.

A. G. VOSS.

GOMPUTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3, 1912.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

3 SHEETS- SHEET 3.

I m lHHHlaha nah.

I Hllll v I I A Q. 1 I adage/71a km to provide a device which is compact in norm e.

COMPUTING-MACHINE.

1,ooo,"252.

'OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Paten Application filed September 3, 1912. Serial No. 718,298.

orator...

To all whom it may concern Be it known. that I, Anon-PH G. Voss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Il1i nois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ,in Computing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present inyentionrelates td a device ,tedious and laborioustask to figure the pay 7 or apparatus for speedily and accurately obtaining computed results, and the device especially adapted for compiling payrolls where the pay is figured upon an hourly basis, and where several different standards of salary are maintained. The objects of the present invention are nature, simple of construction and operation, and composed of strong and durable parts not liable to become wornor get out of order during ordinary usage; to arrange a marked or scaled surface along thepathof travel of the actuating member, and to iden tify each marking of the surface by a symbol which constitutes a portion of the data from which the. computed result'is obtained, thus utilizing the actuating member as a means for positioning the other port-ions of. the device to obtain the computed result' desired, and eliminating any means for setting the mechanism prior to the movement of the actuating mechanism; to provide means for blocking off from view all of the, results savcthe one desired; and to arrange the parts so that a pluralityof results can be simultaneously displayed, if so desired,"

The invention further consists in. the fea tures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of the machine of the present invention;

Fig. 2 a vertical section. through the machine showing the cylinders and actuating means therefor in elevation; Fig. 3 a side View of the parts shown in Fig. 2, looking toward the side on which the actuating member is located; Fig. i an enlarged sectional detail of one of the cylinders with the sleevein operating position which blocks oft the view of all the results save the one desired; Fig. 5 a transverse section of the sleeve and the mechanism for rotating the same Fig. 6 an elevation of thefparts shown in Fig. 5 with portions of the casing broken away; Fig. 7 a detail of the gear for rotating the cylinder; and Fig. 8 an enlarged View of a the cylinder surface exposed to View.

ted Mar. 17, 1 9 1 4.

portion of the casing showing one section, of

- In largecommercial houses and manufac turing. establishments, portion of the employees is figured on'an hourly basis, and the scale per hour varies considerably according to the class of em ployeeai In "compiling a pay-roll, it is a" the liability of error incomputing a mass of wage amounts is imminent and might result at times in a substantial loss of money. The present invention deals with a simple and accurate manner of computing the aboveresults. intended and adapted for compiling payrolls, but at the same time 'it might readily be employed for analogous purposes by changing the character of the symbols on the various portions of the machine.

The mechanism,. as shown, is inclosed within a casing9 which may be of any suitable style and' configuration for the purpose intended. Said casing, as shown in the con struction of Figs. 2 and 3, is provided on its interior with a framework 10 which can be of any style and constructidn, and which preferably is made in a manner to be easily separable and removable from the interior of the casing. The frame-work has rotatably mounted thereon, shown, an upper cylinder 11, a lower cylinder l2, and an intermediate cylinder 13. Each of these cylinders is provided with suitable trunnions journaled in the frame 10, and the trunnions' upon one end carry gears 14, all of similar shape andlsize. The gears 14 are connected to move in unison by intermediate 7. This provides a gear connection between in the construction gears 15, best shown in Fig. l

the pay'of the major Althouglnjas stated, it is particularly the cylinders causing them to rotate at the =ame time and at the same speed.

The intermediate cylinder has secured to the trunnion upon the opposite end thereof, to which the gear 14 is attached, a gear 16 which is engaged by a segmental rack 17 Leo pivoted at 18, as shown inFi'g; 3. This rack is actuated through the medium of a handle or actuatingmembcr 19 which trayels in a slot 20 formed in a plate 21. One wall of the slot is provided with a series of ratchet teeth 22 adapted to be engaged by a tooth 23 on the actuating member. Said sufficient'tocalculate an entire weeks work under ordinary working conditions, although if it isdesired to calculate a larger number of hours, this can be readily accomplished by'enlarging the device in accordance therewith. i

The actuating member, as it travels back and forth in the slot 20, will, through the medium of the rack 17 and the gears heretofore described, rotate the cylinders 11, 12, and 13, in accordance with its movement. In order to return the actuating member to normal position, I employ a spring 24, as

shown in Fig. 3, although the means for returning the mechanism may be of other well- .known and suitable construction.

Each of the cylinders is provided on its outer periphery with a series of lines dividing the surface thereof into a plurality of I columns extended circumferentially there- 'of, and a plurality of columns 26 extending longitudinally thereof. Within each one of 'the spaces formed by the lines is placed a symbol which in the construction shown designates the total amount due the earner for a certain number .of hours at a certain price per hour. .The casing 9 is provided with a series of horizontally extending slots 27 which are "alined with the axial'center of said cylinders, and through the slots 27 the results desired are exposed. "Arranged in close proximity to the slots 27 and in al inement with the circumferential columns 25 are a series of symbols 28 which in the construction shownindicate the pay per week (4-8 hours) of the employee. In order to obtain the computed result," the user of the machine simply notes the data respecting the employee whose wage is being calculated; that is,--'notes the number of hours of work performed and the amount of pay, and from this" data operates the mechanism in the manner to obtain the result desired. For illustration, supposing the employee receives $12.00 per week (48 hours) and has worked 12 hours, the operating handle or member is pulled downward until the tooth 23 engages with the tooth 22 which is designated or identified by the numeral 12. Then lay-glancing beneath the symbol of the set of symbols 28 marked 12, the result of 12 hours of work at a salary of $12.00 for 4E8 hours, namely, $3.00, will be seen on that slot 20 to allow the tooth 23 to portion of the cylinder exposed through the slot 27 and beneath the symbol 12. The symbols upon the surface of the cylinder are so arranged that, when the actuating or operating member is stopped at any predetermined point, the proper symbols'upon the surface of the cylinders will be alined with the slots 27, so that for any predetermined number of hours of work the pay at a given scale can be determined. I

It is desirable in most cases to have only the result desired exposed through the slot 27, as it is quite possible in hasty reading to take the result inan adjacent column rather than the result in the correct column, and through this an error would occur in the payroll. The mechanism which I have illustrated to carry out this phase of the invention consists of a sleeve 29 rotatably mounted upon studs or flanges 30-on the frame 10, there being in the construction shown one sleeve for "each of the cylinders 11, 12, and 13. Said sleeves are each provided with a series of spirally arranged stepped openings 31 extending in the form shown the major portion of the way around the cylinder. vided with a gear 32 driven by a gear-'33 meshing therewith, said gears being of any suitable sizeand design, and the gear 33 is mounted upon a shaft 34: journaled in the frame 10, to which is secured a'sprocket wheel 35, overwhich travels a chain 36,

which chain also travels over a sprocket Wheel 37 located at the opposite end of the Said sleeves are each prov cylinder from the sprocket wheel Said chain has attached thereto a handle -37 which may be equipped, if desired, with 'a suitable pointer or indicator 38. hen the handle is moved to bring the pointer or indicator in alinement withany ofthe desired symbols 28, one of the slots or-openings 31 will be positioned in alin'ement with the opening 27, and the opening 31 so alined will be beneath or in alinement with the symbol 28, beneath which the pointer or indicator has been moved. It may at times be desirable to expose a plurality of results, and I, therefore, provide the sleeve 29 with 'a longitudinally extending slot 39 of a length to extend approximately from endto end of the opening 27. The casing is provided with suitable slots 40 in which the handle moves.

The operation of the foregoing mechanism will be understood from the above de scription, but in order to more. clearly set forth the same, a short description of an operation of the machine to obtain a computed result will be given.

1 Suppose that the datag ven the operator Is as follows:

I quently move the handle 37. If, however,

openings 31 is positioned beneath the symbol 12, as indicated in Fig. 6. The'o'perating handle is then moved until the notch or tooth 23 engages with the tooth 22 indicated by the figure 12, this representing the number of hours of work. hen the operating handle is so positioned, will be revolved into proper position to expose the symbol $3.00 thereon through the opening 31 which is in alinement with the slot 27. The other symbols upon the cylinder which may be alined with said slot will be cut off from view by reason of the pe culiar arran ement of the sleeve 29, and thus the liability of the operator noting an the cylinders I n'laccurate'result is eliminated, since only,

one result is exposed to view, and obviously no error can arise from this source. In compiling pay-rolls, the simplest method would presumably be to figure all of the em ployees sealed at $12.00 per week, all at $10.00, etc., making it unnecessary to fre- 1t should be desired to compute several results, each for the same number ofhours.

the sleeve should be revolved until the slot 39 is brought into alinement with the slot 27, in which position a plurality of results will be displayed.

Although the device is shown and described as being composed of three cylinders, it is obvious that this number may be increased or decreased in accordance with the ideas of the builder.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, a cylinder mounted to-revolve within said casing, and provided on its outer surface with a series of symbols denoting computed results, said symbols being arranged in columns, said casing being provided with a slot arranged to expose portions of said columns, a series of symbols arranged along said slot and alined with each of said columns, each of said symbols representing a portion of the data from which the results in the associated column are obtained, an actuating member for said cylinder, a marked surface arranged along the path of travel ofsaid actuating member, each marking of said sur- 'face denoting a further portion of the data from which the results in said column are obtained, means for blocking oil from view all of the results save the one desired consisting of a sleeve around said cylinder, means for revolving the sleeve independent of the cylinder, said sleeve being provided witha series of stepped openings and with a longitudinally extending slot, whereby when said sleeve is revolved to bring a selected opening into register with the slot in the casing, a single result only will be eX- posed, and when said sleeve is rotated to bring said slot in the sleeve in alinement with said slot in the casing, a plurality of results will be exposed, substantially as de-' scribed. y

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, a cylinder within the casing having thereon a series of symbols denoting computed results, said symbols being arranged in columns, said casing having a slot for exposing said symbols, a sleeve about said cylinder having therein a series of openings, a stationary symbol alined with each of said columns of symbols, an actuating member for said sleeve extending to the outside of the casing and movable in a direction parallel with the longitudinal dimension of said slot, a connection between said actuating member and sleeve, whereby when s: id actuating member is alined with a predetermined stationary symbol an opening in said sleeve will be alined with said slot and immediately below said symbol, and means for rotating said cylinder, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, .a cylinder within the casing having thereon a series of symbols denoting computed results, said symbols being arranged in columns, said casing hav: ing a slot for exposing said symbols, a sleeve about said cylinder having therein a series each of said columns of symbols, an actuating member for said sleeve extending to the outside of the casing and movable in a direction pa 'allel' with the longitudinal dimension of the said slot, an endless member connected to the actuating member, a geared connection between said sleeve and endless member, whereby when said actuating memher is alined with a predetermined stationary symbol an opening in said sleeve will be alined with said slot and immediately below said symbol, and means for rotating said cylinders, substantially as described.

at. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, a cylinder Within said casing having thereon a series of symbols indicating computed results, said symbols being arranged in columns, said casing having a slot for exposing said symbols, a series of fixed symbols arranged adjacent said slots, one fixed symbol for each column of symbols on the cylinder, said fixed symbols representing a portion of the data from which said computed results are obtained, means operatively connected for rotating said cylinder, means for blocking ofl from view all but one of the cylinder symbols exposed through said slot, an actuating memher for said blocking oil means traveling in a plane parallel with said slot and an operative connection. between said blocking oil means and actuating member therefor w mmby when said actuating member is located below a selected one of the fixed symbols,

- the cylinder symbol alined with said slot and alined with the fixed symbol is exposed, and the remainder cylinder symbols alined with said slots blocked off from View, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a casing, a series of cylinders in said casing,each having thereon a series of symbols indicating computed results, said symbols being arranged in columns extending longitudinally and circumferentially of said cylinder, said casing having a series of slots, one for each cylinder, through which said longitudinally arranged columns of symbols are exposed, a series of fixed symbols arranged ad acent said slot, one symbol for each circumferentially arranged column ing member from one stop to the next moves the cylinder a distance sufficient to bring one longitudinal column of symbols out of almement with said slots, and the next adjacent longitudinal column of symbols'into alinement with said slots, each of said stops having placed, adjacent thereto a symbol denoting a" portion of the data from which the computed results are obtained, a sleeve about each of said cylinders h aving therein a series of openings, an actuating member for each of said sleeves extending; to the outside of the casing and movable in a direction parallel with the longitudinal dimension of sai cylinder slots, and a connection between each of said actuating members and its associated sleeve, whereby when said actuating member is alined with a predetermined stationary symbol anopemng in said sleeve will be almed wlth said slot and imme- -diately below said sleeve, substantially as described.

Witnesses:

lVM. P, Bonn, VVALTEP. I-loEL'rJn.

AnoLPn e. yoss. 

